Devices for manufacturing container products made of plastic are prior art. To manufacture the respective product, a tube of plasticized plastic material is extruded into the appropriate molding device. The leading end of the tube is sealed by welding. The tube is expanded by generating a pneumatic pressure gradient on the tube and is placed on the mold surfaces of the molding device to mold the container. When carrying out such production methods, for example according to the Bottelpack® method known in this technical field, the respective container is then filled in a sterile manner via a corresponding filling mandrel and hermetically sealed after removing the filling mandrel.
To achieve the economic and efficient production of container products at a predetermined output rate, U.S. Pat. No. 8,486,324 B2, discloses mold surfaces for the uniform molding of a plurality of containers located one above the other being formed in the molding device. In this case, however, the increase in production speed through the simultaneous formation of a plurality of contiguous containers is achieved at the cost of processing difficulties. Thus, a reliable demolding process of a container group having correspondingly extensive dimensions is dependent on the use of plastics that can be easily processed such as polyethylene, for example. Manufacturing problems arise in applications that are subject to stringent sterility standards and when, instead of polyethylene, polypropylene is to be used, which material allows for a higher autoclaving temperature. The production speed of the device of U.S. Pat. No. 8,486,324 B2 is likewise limited because, despite the simultaneous molding of the containers, manufacturing of the containers is done in a piece-work process. Two or at most, three superimposed rows of containers are formed in each production cycle, which accrue separately for additional handling. A continuous manufacturing process is thus not possible.
DE 10 2008 006 073 A1 discloses a device of the above mentioned generic class that, in terms of the increase in production speed, rather than a kind of piece-work process, allows for the production of a chain of connected containers. The chain of containers is moved away, out of the molding device along the production line. In addition to the more efficient manufacturing achieved, this device permits use of any type of plastic material because a demolding device, which engages with the chain of emerging containers outside the molding device, is provided to support the demolding process.